Does anyone have some good KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for Problem Management in place in their organization? We are trying to gage what constitutes success for Problem Managment and how to best measure our performance. I have done some research and have only found a few measurements.
- MTTR (Mean time to resolve) < X days
- reduce # incidents
- close 50% problems within a month

There are excellent KPIs for PM in the ‘Planning to Implement Service Management’ book, organized around 3 Critical Success Factors
1. Improve service quality
2. minimize impact of problems
3. reduce the cost to Users of Problems

Depending on the maturity of your organization, you might have to find variations of these for your organization. It can also help to have indicators that are by month, by quarter, and annual.

One of the earliest KPIs I remember from training is that "PM Nirvana" would be a 1:1:1 ratio between incidents, problems and known errors. At my company, that KPI is best measured year over year.

- number of incidents joined to a problem record ( or known error record )
- number of incidents solved by using a workaround
- number of incidents solved by service desk ( should be increasing )
- number of workarounds deliverd by incident management

Regards
Frank_________________"if you aim at nothing, that's what you're likely going to hit"

The final objective of Problem Management is to reduce and prevent incidents - so that is always going to be the main KPI of the PM process outcomes.

You can also attempt to measure the efficiency of the process itself - number of problems resolved by the applicaation of previous solution, or measurements of resource usage - time, materials, etc.

And remember you are looking for changes over time - but not a never-ending trend. It will be 'natural' for incidents to peak after major releases of updated or new technology/services. Analysing the 'rate-of-decay' of those peaks will show you more about improvements in the process that simple month-to-month comparrisons.

BTW: Attenuating the severity of those 'peaks' over time is the responsibility of other processes.

% assigned calls open longer than target maximum duration
% of all (not just assigned) high priority calls open longer than target maximum duration
% calls raised as a result of trend analysis of incidents

The second one is very problematic to me as there are a low number of high priority problem cases so the change in that measure from month to month tends to be extreme.

There are lots of things that can be measured. The question is, what action do you want to be taken by to whom the measurements get reported ? For my current organization, I report to upper mgmt, & I've had to keep it simple. (Also, make sure to keep the definition of Incident & Problem clear, as has been discussed in other threads):

1. What percentage of Incidents in a month are from 'previously identified but not yet resolved' Problems? Current Target: 20%. Current Reality: 30-40%. Action needed: technical staff must be allowed to develop robust workarounds if resolution is not apparent, and be able to deliver them to the Help Desk quickly. (yeah - its an issue )

2. What percentage of Problems have 0 Incidents after the Problem was first identified? (i.e. Problem mitigated but not resolved)? Current Target: 90%. Current Reality: 80-85%. Action needed: technical staff must be allowed to develop robust mitigation if resolution is not apparent, and be able to implement it quickly. (do you see a pattern? nb. this one HAS improved)

3. How fast are Problems resolved?: Current Target: 80% in 1Quarter. Current Reality: 50-70%. Action needed: technical staff must be allowed to develop solutions, and be able to test, request change & implement them quickly. (yeah, uh huh)

On the plus side, tracking problems that come 'back from the dead' is not an issue because we are so slow and try so hard to make sure that every solution is 'just right', that we have fewer than 2 in a year, and those are usually procedural.

The biggest issue that has emerged is that there is insufficient staff to fight their way through the excessively labourious procedures we have. That's something management can sink their teeth into. I hope. But hey, I'm an optimist. I'm also reporting June & July result in todays Managers meeting, which you will notice is being help on August 23.

Below is a consolidated list. Some of them might be repeatable, please excuse me for that.

MTTR (Mean time to resolve) < X days
Reduced # of incidents
Close more than 50% problems within a month
Quality measures
Reduce the cost to Users of Problems
% reduction of time to implement fixes to known Errors
% reduction of time of undiagnosed problem
Time spent since the first incident linked to a problem is opened till the proper problem is opened.
Time spent between a problem is open till a workaround or a permanent solution is provided.
MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) since a problem is closed till the same failure happens again.
Number of incidents joined to a problem record ( or known error record )
Number of incidents solved by service desk ( should be increasing )
Number of workarounds deliverd by incident management
% assigned calls open longer than target maximum duration
% of all (not just assigned) high priority calls open longer than target maximum duration
% calls raised as a result of trend analysis of incidents
What percentage of Incidents in a month are from 'previously identified but not yet resolved' Problems? Target: <20%
What percentage of Problems have 0 Incidents after the Problem was first identified? (i.e. Problem mitigated but not resolved)? Target: 90%
How fast are Problems resolved?: Target should be: 85%
Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Percentage reduction of the impact of Problems on Users
Percentage reduction in the number of Problems escalated (missed target)
Increased percentage of proactive Changes raised by Problem Management, particularly from Major Incident and Problem reviews.

Hope this helps...

Cheerz
winz_________________"Look at Frustration as a positive thing. It is the frustration that drives you to improve"

How would you present the following below and in what format, and do you have any examples of your work ? THANK YOU VERY MUCH ALL YOUR INPUT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED !!!!!!!!

Quote:

Hi Folks,

Below is a consolidated list. Some of them might be repeatable, please excuse me for that.

MTTR (Mean time to resolve) < X days
Reduced # of incidents
Close more than 50% problems within a month
Quality measures
Reduce the cost to Users of Problems
% reduction of time to implement fixes to known Errors
% reduction of time of undiagnosed problem
Time spent since the first incident linked to a problem is opened till the proper problem is opened.
Time spent between a problem is open till a workaround or a permanent solution is provided.
MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) since a problem is closed till the same failure happens again.
Number of incidents joined to a problem record ( or known error record )
Number of incidents solved by service desk ( should be increasing )
Number of workarounds deliverd by incident management
% assigned calls open longer than target maximum duration
% of all (not just assigned) high priority calls open longer than target maximum duration
% calls raised as a result of trend analysis of incidents
What percentage of Incidents in a month are from 'previously identified but not yet resolved' Problems? Target: <20%
What percentage of Problems have 0 Incidents after the Problem was first identified? (i.e. Problem mitigated but not resolved)? Target: 90%
How fast are Problems resolved?: Target should be: 85%
Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Percentage reduction of the impact of Problems on Users
Percentage reduction in the number of Problems escalated (missed target)
Increased percentage of proactive Changes raised by Problem Management, particularly from Major Incident and Problem reviews.